I grinned brightly before walking toward the center of the training ground.
Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and focused on my Space Affinity.
Unlike Ice or Darkness, Space felt strange.
Distant.
Elusive.
It was as if I was trying to grasp something that wasn't truly there.
I slowly gathered mana in my palm and attempted to manipulate the surrounding space.
My goal was simple.
Before creating any advanced spell, I needed to obtain Space Control.
Without proper control, every future idea I had would remain nothing more than imagination.
And I had a lot of ideas.
Space Storage.
Blink.
Perception skills.
Movement techniques.
My head was practically overflowing with possibilities.
But first—
I needed a foundation.
I slowly guided my mana according to the image in my mind.
For a brief moment, I felt space respond.
My eyes lit up.
"It's working!"
Then—
Crack.
The structure collapsed instantly.
A sharp headache assaulted me.
"Ugh!"
I stumbled backward and clutched my forehead.
Astrid appeared beside me immediately.
"That's enough."
A gentle stream of mana entered my body and eased the pain.
I rubbed my forehead awkwardly.
"That failed faster than I expected."
Astrid snorted.
"If Space Affinity were easy, everyone would use it."
Then her expression became serious.
"Space Affinity is one of the rarest affinities in existence."
"Over the years, many who awakened it died because they couldn't control their own power."
Her crimson eyes narrowed slightly.
"The ones who survive are usually elites among elites."
I could only smile bitterly.
No pressure.
After resting for several minutes, I tried again.
And failed.
Then again.
And failed.
The third attempt lasted longer before collapsing.
The fourth nearly succeeded.
The fifth caused space to distort violently before dispersing.
By the tenth attempt, sweat covered my forehead and nearly half my mana reserves had vanished.
Even so, I didn't stop.
Every failure taught me something.
Every collapse revealed another mistake.
The shape was wrong.
The mana flow was unstable.
The space wasn't anchored properly.
Slowly, piece by piece, I corrected each flaw.
Astrid silently observed from the side.
The longer she watched, the more surprised she became.
Most people would have become frustrated after failing so many times.
Yet Gray continued calmly.
Each failure was simply another answer.
Another lesson.
Another step forward.
Finally, during my twelfth attempt—
Something changed.
A tiny distortion appeared above my palm.
The surrounding air twisted slightly.
Space folded inward.
A small crack no larger than a marble appeared before vanishing moments later.
At the same time, a familiar notification appeared.
[Congratulations! You have gained the skill: Space Control (F)]
My eyes widened.
"I did it!"
Although the skill was only F-rank, obtaining it meant everything.
I had finally established a connection with my Space Affinity.
Astrid walked over and gently patted my head.
"Good work."
A faint smile appeared on her face.
"For your first day seriously using Space Affinity, that's already absurd progress."
I grinned proudly.
Now things would become much easier.
Space Control was the foundation.
Every future space-related skill would be built upon it.
After resting and recovering some mana, I immediately sat down again.
Astrid raised an eyebrow.
"Already continuing?"
I nodded enthusiastically.
"Of course."
Now that I had Space Control, I wanted to test one of the ideas that had been stuck in my head since yesterday.
Space Storage.
I already had a rough understanding of how space rings worked.
Amy owned one, and I had seen her use it countless times.
A space ring contained an independent pocket of space connected to its owner through mana.
By establishing a connection, items could be stored and retrieved at will.
If a ring could accomplish that—
Then there was no reason I couldn't create something similar myself.
At least, that was my theory.
I closed my eyes and focused once more.
This time, instead of simply manipulating space, I imagined creating a separate area.
A small room disconnected from reality.
A place where time barely flowed.
A place that belonged solely to me.
Then I carefully poured mana into the image.
The space began to form.
For a moment, it remained stable.
Then it shattered.
I frowned.
And tried again.
The second attempt lasted longer.
The third failed.
The fourth almost succeeded.
The fifth collapsed entirely.
Hours passed.
My mana was repeatedly depleted and recovered.
Yet I refused to give up.
Each failure taught me something new.
The walls needed reinforcement.
The connection required stability.
The space itself needed an anchor.
Little by little, I refined the concept.
Then—
Around my twentieth attempt—
Something clicked.
The mana suddenly stabilized.
The image inside my mind became crystal clear.
And for the first time—
The space remained intact.
I froze.
"…I did it."
I could feel it.
A tiny independent space existed somewhere beyond normal reality.
More importantly—
I could access it.
Not with my eyes.
But with my mind.
The sensation was difficult to describe.
It felt as though a small room had appeared inside my consciousness.
I couldn't physically see it.
Yet I knew it existed.
I knew exactly where everything inside it would be located.
I carefully inspected it.
The space wasn't very large.
Certainly nowhere near the size of a high-quality space ring.
But that didn't matter.
This was only the beginning.
I could already sense that the space could grow larger in the future.
As long as my understanding of Space Affinity improved, expanding it should be possible.
At that moment, another notification appeared.
[Congratulations! You have obtained the skill: Space Storage (F)]
[Growth-Type Skill]
[Current Capacity: 25 m³]
A grin immediately spread across my face.
"Finally."
My first Space Affinity skill.
And unlike a dungeon skill, this one was entirely my own creation.
Of course, I wasn't stupid enough to immediately test it using Eclipse.
The thought alone made me shake my head.
Even if the chance of failure was small, I wasn't willing to risk my sword.
Eclipse had already become too important to me.
So instead, I walked over to Astrid.
"Astrid, can you give me something worthless?"
Astrid blinked.
"…Something worthless?"
She stared at me with a bewildered expression.
Realizing how suspicious that sounded, I immediately waved my hands.
"Wait, wait! That's not what I meant!"
Astrid raised an eyebrow.
I coughed awkwardly.
"I mean something that won't matter if it gets lost."
"I created a Space Storage skill and need to test it."
"If I use something valuable and can't retrieve it, that would be a disaster."
Understanding immediately appeared on Astrid's face.
"Ah."
A small smile formed on her lips.
"I was wondering what strange thing was going through your head this time."
She picked up a wooden training sword and handed it to me.
"This should be fine."
I eagerly accepted it.
Then I focused on my newly created storage space.
Store.
The moment the thought formed—
The wooden sword vanished.
My eyes widened.
"It worked."
At the same time, I could clearly sense the sword resting inside the storage space.
It felt as though I had placed it inside a room and simply closed the door.
Astrid's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Take it out."
I immediately nodded.
Retrieve.
A ripple appeared in space.
The wooden sword instantly reappeared in my hand.
I stared at it.
Then looked at Astrid.
Then back at the sword.
"It actually worked!"
My excitement exploded.
Astrid chuckled softly.
"It would be strange if your own skill didn't work."
"No, but seriously!"
I couldn't stop smiling.
"I actually created a Space Storage skill!"
Astrid shook her head helplessly.
Then her expression became slightly serious.
"Gray."
"Hm?"
"Do you realize how valuable this skill is?"
I blinked.
"Not really."
Astrid sighed.
"Most people need expensive space rings to obtain storage abilities."
"Even low-quality rings cost a fortune."
"And high-quality ones are valuable enough that noble families fight over them."
She pointed at me.
"But you just created a Growth-Type Space Storage from scratch."
I paused.
When she put it that way…
It did sound impressive.
"And because it's a Growth-Type skill," Astrid continued, "its future value is impossible to predict."
She folded her arms.
"Honestly, if people learned that an eight-year-old child created Devour, Space Control, and a Growth-Type Space Storage in the same week…"
She shook her head.
"The entire kingdom would go insane."
I scratched my cheek.
"…Is it really that impressive?"
Astrid and Amy, who had been listening nearby, looked at me.
Then they answered simultaneously.
"Yes."
I blinked.
"…Oh."
For some reason, that answer made me feel even prouder.
Maybe creating my own skills was harder than I thought.